[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township
of Towamencin as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Fees — See Ch. 76.
[Adopted 7-15-1980 by Ord. No. 80-4]
This article shall be known and may be cited as the "Towamencin
Township False Alarm and Police and Fire Notification Control Ordinance."
Whereas the Board of Supervisors of the Township of Towamencin
has determined that the receipt of false alarms and false notifications
to the Police Department or Volunteer Fire Company that emergencies
exist or situations exist wherein police or fire assistance or investigation
is required is detrimental to the welfare and safety of the citizens
of Towamencin Township and the members of the Police Department and
the Volunteer Fire Company, and that the receipt of said false alarms
and notifications by the Police Department and/or the Fire Company
detracts from the efficiency of said Department and Company in discharging
their responsibilities to the citizens of Towamencin Township, it
is hereby declared to be the policy to safeguard and protect the citizens
of Towamencin Township, the members of the Police Department and the
members of the Volunteer Fire Company, present and future, from such
hazards or risks.
A.
ALARMS
FALSE NOTIFICATION
FIRE COMPANY
FIRE MARSHAL
PERSON
POLICE DEPARTMENT
Definitions. The following words, terms and phrases, when used in
this article, shall have the following meanings ascribed to them:
Any mechanical or electronic signals reporting by means of
telephone cables or other means of transmission, which signals are
monitored by or transmitted to the Police Department of Towamencin
Township or the Volunteer Fire Company at its communications center,
or audible alarm which is heard and/or called in by another, and which
signals, upon receipt or upon activation, indicate to the Department
or Company that an emergency exists at the sounding location. Said
alarms shall include those types installed to indicate robberies,
burglaries and fires at the sounding location.
Any report or request for police and/or fire service or assistance
directed to the Police Department and/or Fire Company by any means
of any communication wherein the situation, condition, incident or
emergency as the subject of the report or request for police and/or
fire service or assistance did not or does not exist.
The Towamencin Volunteer Fire Company or any other volunteer
fire company and/or ambulance corps which may operate in Towamencin
Township in the future.
The Fire Marshal of Towamencin Township.
Any individual, partnership, association, company, firm,
trust, corporation, department, bureau, agency or other entity recognized
by law as the subject of rights and duties.
The Towamencin Township Police Department or any other police
department which responds at the request of the Towamencin Township
Police Department.
B.
Word usage. The singular of any word used in this article shall be
deemed to include the plural.
The Police Department shall have the power and the duty to enforce
the provisions of this article. Enforcement shall be through the issuance
of a summary citation under the jurisdiction of the local District
Court.
After the effective date of this article, it shall be unlawful
for any person or persons, as above defined, including but not limited
to an owner or lessee of any building in which a fire, holdup or burglar
alarm has been installed:
A.
To cause, suffer, allow or permit the accidental or purposeful transmission
of a false alarm signal from any public or private place in the Township
of Towamencin to the Police Department of or Fire Company in the Township
of Towamencin.
B.
To cause, suffer, allow or permit to be made any report or request
for police or fire service or assistance by any means of communication
wherein the situation, condition, incident or emergency as the subject
of the report or request for police or fire service or assistance
did not and does not exist.
Unavoidable false alarms received by the Police Department or
Fire Company are not subject to the provisions of this article. "Unavoidable
alarms" are defined herein as those acts not coming under human, mechanical
or electronic control, such as rain, lightning or windstorms, or cutoff
of the electric company power supply to any person.
[Amended 8-26-1992 by Ord. No. 92-5]
Any person, as above defined, including but not limited to the
owner and/or lessee of any building in which a fire, holdup or burglar
alarm has been installed, violating any of the provisions of this
article shall, after the first offense in any given calendar year,
be mailed written notice of said violation. Upon subsequent violations
and upon conviction thereof by any District Justice, such person shall
be subject to pay a fine of not less than $25 nor more than $300,
together with the costs of prosecution. Each instance of violation
shall constitute a separate offense. In default of the payment of
any fine, the defendant may be sent to the Montgomery County Prison
for a period not exceeding 30 days.
[Adopted 10-13-1981 by Ord. No. 81-4]
This article shall be known and may be cited as the "Towamencin
Township Emergency Police and Fire Alarm Ordinance."
The following definitions shall apply in the interpretation
and enforcement of this article:
Any person, firm or corporation who sells or leases or installs
automatic protection devices.
A service whereby trained employees in attendance at all
times receive prerecorded voice messages from automatic protection
devices reporting an emergency at a stated location and have the duty
to relay immediately by live voice any such emergency message over
a designated or direct trunk line to the communications center of
the Police Department or Fire Company.
Any device, bell, horn or siren which is attached to the
interior or exterior of a building and emits a warning signal audible
outside the building and designated to attract attention when activated
by criminal act or other emergency requiring police to respond.
An electrically-operated instrument composed of sensory apparatus
and related hardware which automatically transmits a prerecorded voice
alarm over regular telephone line, by direct or indirect connection
to the Police Department or Fire Company, upon receipt of a stimulus
from a sensory apparatus that has detected a physical force or condition
inherently characteristic of a fire or intrusion.
A protective system or group of such systems operated privately
for customers by a person, firm or corporation which maintains supervisors
and accepts recorded messages from automatic protection devices at
a central station having trained operators and guards in attendance
at all times that have the duty to take appropriate action upon receipt
of a signal or message, including the relaying of messages by designated
or direct trunk line to the communications center of the Police Department
or Fire Company.
The Chief of the Towamencin Volunteer Fire Company.
The Chief of Police of the Towamencin Township Police Department.
A telephone line leading into the communications center of
the Police Department or Fire Company that is for the primary purpose
of handling emergency messages which originate from automatic protection
devices and are transmitted directly or indirectly through an intermediary.
A nonlisted, directly connected telephone line leading from
an intermediary to the communications center of the Police Department
or Fire Company that is for the primary purpose of handling emergency
messages on a person-to-person basis.
Any signal activated by an automatic protection device, any
audible alarm or any kind of direct or indirect signal given the police
or fire communications center to which police or fire personnel respond
and which is not the result of a burglary, robbery, fire or similar
emergency.
The fire communications room and other rooms which house
auxiliary communications equipment.
The Fire Company located within the Township of Towamencin.
A central station protective system or an answering service
as herein defined.
To use a telephone line and equipment for transmitting a
message either directly or indirectly by an automatic protection device.
Written permission duly granted to an applicant by the Township
of Towamencin upon payment of the required fee.
The police communications room or other rooms which house
auxiliary communications equipment.
The Towamencin Township Police Department.
A telephone line leading into the communications center of
the Police or Fire Department that is for the purpose of handling
emergency calls on a person-to-person basis and which line is identified
by a specific listing among the white pages in the telephone directory.
A telephone line leading into the communications center of
the Police or Fire Department that is for the purpose of handling
administrative and other calls on a person-to-person basis and which
line is identified by a specific listing among the white pages of
the telephone directory issued by the Bell Telephone Company.
The designated Secretary of the Township of Towamencin.
Except as provided in Subsections A and B of this section, after
the enactment of the article, users must equip audible alarms with
timing mechanisms that will disengage the audible alarm after a maximum
period of 15 minutes. Audible alarms without such timing mechanisms
shall be unlawful in the Township of Towamencin and must be disconnected
by the user within 60 days from the effective date of this article.
The following shall be excepted from the provisions of this section:
A.
No automatic protection device installed after the effective date
of this article shall be keyed to a primary or secondary trunk line.
B.
After the effective date of this article, all automatic protection
devices that transmit recorded messages directly to the Police Department
or Fire Company shall be keyed to the designated trunk line.
C.
Within 60 days from the effective date of this article, existing
automatic protection devices in the Township shall be disconnected
from primary and secondary trunk lines.
A.
Within 90 days from the effective date of this article, every person,
corporation, institution or company who has keyed an automatic protection
device in the Township of Towamencin to the designated trunk line
shall furnish to the Chief of Police a registration of such installation
which shall include the following information:
(1)
The name, residence and telephone number of the user.
(2)
The address where the device is installed and the telephone number
of that address.
(3)
The name, address and telephone number of a central station protective
system or any other person or firm who is authorized to respond to
an emergency and gain access to the address where the device is installed.
(4)
The name and telephone number of the alarm equipment supplier and
of any person other than the alarm equipment supplier who is responsible
for the maintenance and repair of the automatic protective device.
B.
All information furnished pursuant to this section shall be kept
confidential and shall be for the use of the Police Department and
the Fire Company only.
Automatic protection devices installed in the Township that
are keyed to designated trunk lines shall meet the following requirements:
A.
The type and content of recorded messages must be intelligible and
in a format approved prior to installation by the Chief of Police.
B.
No more than one call shall be made over a designated trunk line
to the Police Department or Fire Company as a result of a single activation
of the automatic protection device.
C.
The time for transmitting each recorded message shall not exceed
15 seconds.
D.
Recorded messages may be repeated during one call but the interval
between each recorded message shall be no less than eight nor more
than 12 seconds.
E.
The sensory mechanism used in connection with an automatic protection
device must be adjusted to suppress false indications of fire or intrusion
so that the device will not be actuated by impulses due to fleeting
pressure changes in water pipes, short flashes of light, the rattling
or vibrating of doors and windows, vibrations to the premises caused
by the passing of vehicles or any other force not related to genuine
alarms.
F.
All components comprising such a device must be maintained by the
user in good repair to assure maximum reliability of operation.
Each supplier of alarm equipment who sells or leases an automatic
protection device in the Township of Towamencin after the effective
date of this article which is keyed to a designated trunk line shall
furnish operating instructions, a circuit diagram and maintenance
manual to the user.
A.
Each user of alarm equipment in the Township which is keyed to a
designated trunk line shall arrange for repair service to be available
directly or through an agent on a twenty-four-hour-per-day basis to
repair any malfunctions that may occur to the device.
B.
The alarm user shall be responsible for having the device disconnected
or repaired as quickly as possible after notice that the automatic
protection device is not functioning properly.
When messages evidencing failure to comply with the operational requirements set forth in § 44-13 are received by the Police Department or Fire Company and the Chief of that particular Department or Company concludes that the automatic protection device sending such messages should be disconnected in order to relieve the particular Department or Company of the burden of responding to false alarms, he is authorized to demand that the user of the device or his representative disconnect the device until it is made to comply with the operational requirements. If disconnection of the defective device is not accomplished promptly and the Chief of the Department or Company concerned determines that the malfunctioning device is repeatedly sending false alarms without any intermittent valid alarms, he may then take any steps necessary to disconnect the defective automatic protection device; any expenses so incurred by the Township shall be promptly reimbursed by the owner or lessee of the defective device.
No person shall conduct any test or demonstration of an automatic
protection device without first obtaining permission from the Police
Department where the equipment is keyed through an intermediary. No
such permission is necessary unless the alarm or signal is to be relayed
to the Police Department or the Fire Company of the Township of Towamencin.
Users shall pay such connection and annual fees as the Township
shall set by resolution from time to time. The Township may set permit
fees and adopt regulations to implement this article from time to
time.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: By Resolution 81.9 adopted October 13,
1981, fees for users of automatic protection devices were established
as follows:
(1) Twenty dollars annually when the automatic protection
device is connected to a designated trunk line.
(2) Ten dollars annually when the automatic protection device
is connected to an answering service or central station protective
system.
For the purpose of enforcing this article, it shall be a condition
to installing and maintaining an automatic protection device that
the Building Inspector or the Chief of the Police Department or Fire
Company may enter upon a user's premises within the Township
of Towamencin at such reasonable time and upon reasonable notice to
inspect the installation or operation of an automatic protection device;
each user shall cooperate with such officials in every reasonable
manner to permit such inspections.
[Amended 12-28-1988 by Ord. No. 88-15]
A.
Failure of any person to comply with the requirements of written
notice of a violation of any provision hereof within three days of
receipt of such notice, exclusive of Saturdays and Sundays and holidays,
shall constitute an offense punishable by a fine of not less than
$25 nor more than $300, together with costs of prosecution, to be
collectible before any District Justice as like fines and costs are
now collectible by law. Such notice shall continue in force and effect
until full compliance with the requirements stated therein, and each
and every failure to comply with such notice within 24 hours after
the three days allowed for compliance shall constitute a separate
offense. In default of the payment of a fine and costs, the defendant
shall be punishable by imprisonment in the Montgomery County Prison
for not more than 30 days.
B.
Any person found guilty of misuse, continual accidental
activation or false activation of an automatic protection device shall
be liable for a fine of not less than $25 and not more than $300,
plus the cost of prosecution for each activation, to be collectible
before any District Justice as like fines and costs are now collectible
by law. In default of the payment of a fine and costs, the defendant
shall be punishable by imprisonment in the Montgomery County Prison
for not more than 30 days.
